countries are, in truth, far better off than we in it. The fact that our Japanese women are not so simple and optimistic as supposed to be, has had a great deal to do in bringing about its sudden unexpected decline.
It is a custom to change your own name at first, when you become an actor or geisha or even wrestler, because art in Japan begins with masquerading; you will get art when you lose your own self. But suppose, when you want to return to your original self again, you have to part with all the art you got by the sacrifice of your own self! Art and Life are quite different things in Japan.
I put nearly everything good and true in my poetry; when my poetry is done, I hasten to the stupidity and plainness of Life. I am indeed amused to be told then: “How tired you look from having too much poetry! What a prosaic life you are now having!”
Failure is more true, more real, more sane, than success; to get the real failure is a great
